Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
All the talk this season about the White marlin Open celebrating its 50th anniversary jogged my memory about how things were around our local docks and out on the water back in 1973 and how much they’ve changed since. Back then I was a 15-year-old kid working at Bahia Marina and just starting my “formal education” about how to catch fish and drive a boat around Ocean City’s inshore and offshore waters. Back then I could not have even begun to imagine how much our shorelines, waterways, and fisheries would change in a (short) half century, but they surely have, and here’s just a small taste of what’s gone on since the 1st Annual White Marlin Open.
Old RR Bridge
Wonder why Old Bridge Rd. in West Ocean City is named the way it is? It’s because the east end of it is where the old railroad bridge used to cross the bay over to just above the Coast Guard station. Right now it ends at someone’s house, but when I was a kid the road ran right out across remnants of the old bridge that no longer spanned the entire bay, but did still run over a hundred yards out into it. It was essentially to bulkheads running parallel and filled with dirt with an asphalt cap, the very end was a ragged mess of wood and rubble. The pavement was pretty sketchy but you could drive your car almost all the way out and fish or crab beside your car if you wanted to. The north side of the bridge was a cove of pretty shallow water but from the end you could cast right out into the channel and it was a good place to catch big croaker during the day and sea trout at night.
Incidentally, “Stinky Beach” extended both north and south of where the old RR bridge made landfall. The south side is now all filled in, built up, and covered with expensive homes while what’s left of the north side shoreline has been set aside for public use and more appropriately named Homer Gudelsky Park.
Dog and Bitch Islands?
Yea, I don’t know who named them but for the longest time there were two marsh islands in the Thorofare known as Dog and Bitch. They were just a couple hundred yards (if that) off the shoreline right where the deep dropoff is now. The islands were pretty big, but over time they got whittled down to nothing by strong currents and nor'easters. The last remnant of the last island disappeared sometime within the past decade, but I don’t recall exactly when. Old nautical charts show the islands quite well and even some of the newer charts continue to suggest the Dog and Bitch are still around, but if they are they’re nothing more than a bump on a depth finder.
Speaking of vanishing islands - for the longest time there were three islands on the west side of the sandbar out in front of Bahia Marina on 22nd st. One is still there (it’s the one with the house on it and the bridge), the other two were to the north, and for a while were at least half the size of the one with the house. My friends built a little shack out of scrap lumber in the center of the middle island and it would be our little base camp when we would go to clam and gig blowfish in the summer or shoot ducks and an occasional goose in the winter. The two islands have since melted down into the sandbar.
Marinas that Came and Went
When I was a kid there was no Sunset Marina or Ocean City Fishing Center. Where they are now was just marsh, brush and sand dunes. But back then there were some other marinas that no longer exist. Right behind where Hooper’s Crab House is now (the restaurant wasn’t there then) was “Elliott’s Marina” which had slips for small boats and a bait and tackle shop. Directly across Rt.50 from Elliott’s was Bayside Marina which also rented slips, sold bait and tackle, and rented small skiffs. At the end of the Bayside canal was Bayside Boatel which was OC’s first indoor “stack” facility for storing boats. They also sold and repaired boats and motors.
“Captain Joe’s Marina” was located in the cove at 1st street where “de Lazy Lizard” restaurant now sits. From what I remember, Capt. Joe’s had a pretty big fleet of brown wooden rental boats powered by 6hp Evinrude motors. I think that the first time I ever fished here in OC was when my father rented one of those boats and took me out on the bay. Just by happenstance, about 30 years ago I was able to buy one of those old rental boats from a relative of Captain Joe . It was built in 1965 and my wife and I still have it and use it for messing around in the back bays.
The canal up at 53rd St used to be home to “Bouldens Marina” which rented slips for small boats, had a store, and a small fleet of 13’ Boston Whalers for rent which, at the time, were the fastest thing you could rent on the water. I remember fishing from the docks and bulkhead around the Ship’s Cafe Marina (which is now Harbour Island) and catching sand sharks and blowfish with handlines and squid. The homes weren’t there then, so it was mostly an open lot with a few little cottages. Most of the marinas that were here then are still around today but have certainly grown up, taken on a new look, and offer a lot more amenities. I really miss the atmosphere of the sleepy little marinas!
In Town Marine Railway
It’s really hard to imagine now, but just off Talbot Street right about where M.R.Ducks is now, there used to be a marine railway where a pretty good sized boat could be hauled out of the water for painting and other maintenance and repair work. I remember the first time I noticed the railway, it was in the spring and a friend and I were hunting monkfish or “headfish” as we called them. The fish used to swarm into the bay that time of the year and often lay up on the marshes, sandbars and - well, the sandy marine railway on Talbot Street! “Headfishing” with rocks and spears was something kids did back then, but that story is probably better left for another time.
No Limits on Flounder
When I was a kid there was no size or creel limit on flounder, and there were lots of them!. Back then, anglers just pretty much used their own discretion as to what they thought was big enough to get some decent size fillets from. I’m not suggesting there shouldn’t be limits now. Maybe back then anglers listened to their conscience more, or just had better ethics, but I don’t recall much of a problem with anglers keeping little flounder. Eventually Maryland’s DNR came up with a 10-inch size limit and the next year bumped it up to 12-inches. Back then a lot of anglers took exception to the size limits, not so much because they wanted to keep small fish but they weren’t keen on being regulated in what they “could” or “could not” keep. If they only knew what was coming in the future!
Parasailing has Changed!
Watching a parasail boat the other day it reminded me about the first such operation here in OC. It was run in the bay and the operators had a big floating dock anchored up off 30-something Street which acted like an aircraft carrier in that the customers would be lifted off from, and then landed back on the deck. I used to watch them operate and the process always seemed precarious, because in order to land the customers the boat had to swing the line over the platform and slow down so that it would come close enough for someone on the deck to grab it and snap a line to it. The boat would then move forward and the person would be pulled down to the deck. It wasn’t exactly as slick (or as safe) as they do it these days.
All these changes and a whole lot more have occurred around here since the 1st Annual White Marlin Open. It’ll likely be from a different vantage point, but I can’t wait to see what things will be like in another 50-years! §
